How to Encourage Babies and Young Children to Learn to Talk - Research Paper Example

It is not very common to have a relative look over their children. This is when the role of child care centers comes into the spotlight. Over time, women have come to realize the importance of child care centers in helping them look over their children while they are away; at the same time, working mothers are relieved of the tension of having their children unattended. There has been a surge in the demand for qualified and experienced people who can take responsibility and care for young children.

Moreover, the demand for child care workers is also high because of the high turnover rate of the job; this is because the wages given to child care workers are low, making the turnover rate as much as 31 percent (Eberts & Gisler, 1999). It has become more of a rule, rather than something arising out of necessity, for women to work outside their homes. There has been a shift from the parenting approach to child care to a market approach to child care (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2008). Therefore, a number of alternatives have surfaced over the years to facilitate working mothers while they are away.

In America, the three main types of child care options that are preferred are in-home care, family child care and child care centers. Child care centers are also known as daycare centers. Where in-home child care includes hiring a nanny or au-pairs, family child care is concerned with the caring of a child from the personal residence of the caregiver. Both have advantages and disadvantages of their own. In-home care provides child care on his or her own and is very personalized for the child.

However, the little exposure the child gets to the outside world, along with the lack of authentic proof of the character of the caregiver, makes the in-home care option less preferable. On the other hand, family care centers are generally preferred for their small child to caregiver ratio as well as the dependency on the character of the caregiver. Commercial child care centers differ from family centers in more standardized working hours.